1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a hybrid beverage dispenser that offers the user the flexibility of serving multiple types of beverages in a very compact footprint. The beverage dispenser provides flexibility of products served, configurations, and flexibility/ease of use. For example, the beverage dispenser may be configured to dispense blended ice drinks, smoothies, carbonated soft drinks, juices and teas and combinations of them. The beverage dispenser can dispense hot and cold drinks as well as a variety of ice types, such as shaved, nuggets and cubed/crushed, facilitating customer enjoyment of chewable ice forms, if desired.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently restaurants serve a variety of beverages such as carbonated drinks and non-carbonated drinks. The state of the art of beverage dispensers is such that each different type of beverage served is provided from its own dispensing machine that is dedicated to that type of beverage. For example, a restaurant serving juice beverages and smoothies would provide two different beverage dispensing machines, one for dispensing the juice beverages and one for dispensing the smoothies. Similarly, a restaurant serving cold soda beverages and hot beverages such as tea, coffee and hot chocolate would provide two separate beverage dispensing machines, one for the cold soda beverages and one for the hot beverages.
Having separate dispensing machines for each type of beverage has several disadvantages, both for the restaurant establishment and for the user/operator. With respect to the restaurant establishment, the disadvantages include the need for sufficient counter and/or floor space to accommodate the individual footprint of each beverage dispensing machine. In addition, for the restaurant establishment and the user/operator, having separate dispensing machines for each type of beverage offered for sale requires the user/operator to move between beverage dispensing machines in order to dispense different types of beverages. This is inconvenient for both the user (consumer) and operator (restaurant establishment employees), providing for wasted time and effort. Separate dispensing machines also lead to additional problems, such as more service calls, increased preventative maintenance and calibration and the need to store and have available extra spares parts
Thus, a need exists for a beverage dispensing machine that overcomes the shortcomings caused by having separate beverage dispensing machines for each type of beverage. The present disclosure provides a dispensing machine that overcomes the shortcomings and satisfied those needs.